Many businesses see translation services as an extra cost that they can’t afford. However, these organizations must recognize continuous localization’s monetary and operational benefits.
Just like any other business, yours is growing day by day. However, depending on your industry, you might be expanding your business to different countries or territories requiring localization. Yes, it is good to consider translation services that will allow you to reach a larger market.
However, another option can also be helpful for your business: continuous localization. The term may sound unfamiliar to you, but I’m sure you’ve already seen its effects throughout your daily routine – take a look at the board at your local supermarket or pharmacy. Those signs have been localized to suit the specific country or region and the culture of its people.
In this article, we will explore the topic of continuous localization in more detail and find out how it can help your business grow.
What is Continuous localization?
Continuous localization integrates translation into the agile software development process to enable uninterrupted multilingual content. This new global content management approach allows companies to deliver updated software products in different languages frequently.
The continuous localization approach allows development teams to work on products for various locales and in different languages in parallel, eliminating repetitive tasks and handoffs. This results in a more efficient and streamlined workflow that can save time and money.
1. Continuous localization is a revolution.
We’ve all been there, whether it was our first day at school or writing a blog post for the first time: you get it in your head that this is going to be different, that somehow, magically, things are going to work out differently than they did before. Oh boy!
The reality is usually very different from the dream, and continuous localization is no exception. But what makes it revolutionary isn’t so much its newness as it can change how we work with language and translation on a fundamental level.
Several things make continuous localization revolutionary, but the most important one is this: it changes our assumptions about how we work with language and translation.
We’ve all heard the saying, “You must get out of your comfort zone.” This is a great way to explain what continuous localization does for us; it forces us to do things differently than we are accustomed to. It pushes us beyond our comfort zones and into new territory.
2. There’s no such thing as too many languages in continuous localization.
The more people you have access to, the more money you will make. The more languages you translate your content into, the greater your potential reach. And this is why continuous localization is so crucial for a business: once translated into another language, content becomes accessible to everyone in that market and suddenly enables them to become potential customers.
3. Continuous localization helps you identify problems before they happen.
When you have a continuous localization process in place, you can identify problems with your translation before they happen. This means that you will be able to fix them much faster and at a lower cost than if you waited until after the product had been released. This will increase the quality of your product and customer satisfaction, leading to increased sales for your business.
4. Continuous localization means your team can focus on their work instead of translation.
Continuous localization means you can focus on the product itself. You can focus on the business side of things. You can focus on marketing and sales, which are also related to the business. And you can do all this while keeping up with customer support, which is critical for a good reputation and the long-term success of your product.
With continuous localization, you’ll have more time to improve your product’s performance and quality, which users care about most!
5. Continuous localization means you’re never starting from scratch.
The more languages your business has, the more work it takes to start over. You’ve already done a considerable amount of work translating your content into all those languages–you should be able to start over from scratch every time you launch a new product or update an existing one.
Keeping track of all the little details that make up localized content can be challenging: are we using the right name for this item? Did we change this phrase in all locales? Is there still something missing? Big companies with lots of resources and people working on localization probably will be OK with doing this manual work every time they update their app or website. Still, small businesses may not have these luxuries.
A better option is continuous localization: keeping your translations up-to-date as often as possible so that you don’t need to redo them each time there’s an update. By keeping everything up-to-date at once instead of going through every single language one by one every few months (or years), businesses save money and effort while making sure their customers understand what they’re trying to say at any given moment.
6. The payoff is worth the work.
Continuous localization isn’t just about translation-it’s about improving your product and user experience in every language you support daily. It’s not just a buzzword or something that might be useful for other companies to try. And it means you’re never starting from scratch: as soon as you add new content to your website or app, it will automatically get translated into any language needed.
And there’s no such thing as too many languages! If your company has customers who speak more than one language and are likely to buy from you online, adding those languages is almost certainly worth the effort.
7. Continuously localize your product and reap the benefits.
Continuous localization is a way of life for companies that want to maintain a solid global presence. It’s not an on/off switch-it’s about making sure you’re always in touch with your customers, even if they’re just one step ahead or behind you. And as part of this commitment, it’s essential to think long-term about how continuous localization will affect your business and its users.
Conclusion
In the end, it’s all about making sure your product is available to everyone. Whether you’re a small startup or a large business with thousands of employees, continuous localization will help you reach more people in more languages. On top of that, it’ll ensure that your translations are fresh and relevant at all times, not just when they happen to come up in development meetings or market research sessions!
Laila Azzahra is a professional writer and blogger that loves to write about technology, business, entertainment, science, and health.